BP's Field of the Future Program: Delivering Success

Abstract

This paper details the progress made with the implementation of BP's FIELD OF THE FUTURE program over the past four years. It first describes the approach taken by BP to install real time data infrastructure in many sectors of its operations. To date this infrastructure has included the installation of 1800km of fibre optic cable, the registration of nearly two million real time data tags within a common real time data backbone, and construction of more than twenty Advanced Collaborative Environments supporting production and drilling operations. The paper then describes some of the activities underway in BP's operations, and the associated benefits, including:use of advanced well monitoring technology to manage sand production and other aspects of well performance in 20 fields (1–3% production benefit)examples of full field optimisation/visualisation and associated benefits (1–2% production benefit)the development of a new downhole flow control capability for high rate sand prone wells (resource/reserve benefit)early experience with the application of temperature profile monitoring and of life of field seismic (resource/reserve benefit) Finally, the paper describes the people, process and organisation activity undertaken in several of BP's large operating areas which have directly impacted many of the operational staff working in these areas through an extensive set of change management workshops and similar activity. The lessons learned from these activities over the past four years include the need to:define support and maintenance resources up frontidentify and standardize infrastructure requirements for new projectstake a centralized global approach to planning deployment but a local approach to implementationfully resource change management activity 1. Background to BP's FIELD OF THE FUTURE Program BP's FIELD OF THE FUTURE program (Ref 1) was established in 2003 with an initial focus on engagement and deployment, the objective being to deploy core technologies in a limited number of assets in order to build a track record, to re-affirm the prize and to build a technical and architectural foundation for subsequent 'bigger moves'. These early deployments, conducted over the period from 2003 to 2005, confirmed the potential of the program to add significant value across a broad range of asset types. Since that time the program has evolved to focus on the three areas, as described pictorially below in Figure 1. The common feature of most of the elements of the program is that they are related one way or another to real time data, and are aimed at high rate fields which form a significant part of BP's current and future portfolios. BP is also working on high well count fields onshore in North America where cost effective solutions for optimization of gas well deliquification is the focus. These and other technologies generally impact production, recovery or both. Over the next 10 years or so, it is expected that the program will contribute in excess of 1 billion barrels of recovery and 100 M/bd to BP's E&P segment.

Drilling Centers Maturity Model Evaluation Based on Integrated Operation Key Elements: A Case Study from Brazil

“…The decisions of drilling center teams are taken in a proper and consistent and timing compared with the operational reality because people have autonomy for decision making [28].…”

Integrated Operations: Value and Approach in the Oil Industry

“…Along the way, the program has had to overcome a number of challenges -around the intent of the program, its value, and how this value will be delivered. The enduring theme of the program is one of integration of activities that relate to real time data, whether reservoir or wells, operations or facilities, technical or digital, development or deployment, central team or asset team (Reddick, 2008).…”

“…BP's FIELD OF THE FUTURE program was established with an initial focus on engagement and deployment, the objective being to deploy core technologies in a limited number of assets in order to build a track record, to reaffirm the prize and to build a technical and architectural foundation for subsequent 'bigger moves' (Reddick, 2008). According to Otto, 2008, having a holistic approach to Digital Infrastructure and IT Architecture has enabled the FIELD OF THE FUTURE programme to achieve an integrated solution and go beyond what would otherwise be a set of smart but isolated point answers.…”

“…Within the FIELD OF THE FUTURE business transformation program, adoption success is based on the consistent application of tools to assure: stakeholder identification and engagement, clarity of expectations of staff during and after the implementation project, deep understanding of how work will change through process walkthroughs to clarify roles and their interactions, identification of risks to adoption, and potential mitigations, understanding between concurrent initiatives that will impact the same team members, clarity of a specific team's readiness for change (Reddick, 2008).…”

“…(Lilleng, 2010) Shell Smart Fields is not a standalone technology that has been developed by a single team; rather, it is based on the integration of dozens of tools, skills, and workflows to improve the performance of core Shell EP assets in a structural and sustainable way. (Perrons, 2010)BPThe following technology themes form the core of BP's FIELD OF THE FUTURE Programme: real-time reservoir management, production optimization, remote performance monitoring and collaboration, advanced collaborative environments and connecting global know-how and expertise (Reddick, 2008).…”